fornacetta

This afternoon the tiny church on the Fornacetta – S.Maria della Fornacetta, was reopened to the Barga public after renovations on the roof and walls were finally completed and the church had been restored to its original glory. the moving ceremony was presided over by the Bishop of Pisa, mons. Giovanni Paolo Benotto and of course, the Proposto di Barga, Don Stefano.

The actual cost of the renovations, more than €250,000 was in the main part paid for by the donation of one single person – that of the prof.ssa Clara Fiori who died recently and left any money raised from the sale of her house to be used to renovate the church.

As you can hear in the interview with Don Stefano ( in Italian) at the bottom of this article, although the church is now perfectly restored on the outside with what was a dangerous leaking roof completely restored, there is still some work to be done to repair the damage to the interior.

In fact there was very noticeable small green demigiana with a sign asking for donations positioned strategically just outside the side door of the church during yesterday’s ceremony which very visibly showed their continuing problems. (full article here )